The Irish standard., 1887-03-05
been lu1ariatine short time before.
The veri111ra thesbeauty. the sights of

/ promise and of plenty, and .,the sounds
Of mirth ana light heartedness, had van
.ished as completely as if the wand of a
malicious wizard had been laid over the
face of the picture, Before the travel
Hers; a few perches distant, lay long,
deep, struggling glyn, covered with
heath, bramble, short hazel bushes, sfoe
trees, wild crab and other sstuntaed and az
dark-looking individuals of the family Of
underwood. A brown boggy stream
Fcrept, then. bounded now -rippled, then
roared, and again murmured at various
points Of it's winding progress through
the sullen cleft-its dark waters. in sew
eral instances, narrowing and chatting
against the lodges of orag, into a snow
white foam, little masses of which float
ed down the black stream, like solitary
virtues on the gloomy river Of: a bad
worlds history. The sun, which had
cheokered with so many sweet varieties
of light and shade the landscape he had
left behind, served here only to increase
the dreary dullness Of the scene. a flat
Doggy, plain or inch "a plot Of level
ground lying near the marge Of rivu-
let), covered with long tabid grass,
which Is Indigenous to such soil, and
assumes the appearance of hay already
dry, while it is yet in the act Of vegetat-
ing, spread it's dusky tablet on their left,
at the foot of a rocky eminence, while
the stream, forming small semicircle
around it, cut it sharply away from the
base of a steep and bare cliff, over. the
summit of which, adorned with q coronal
of the. red-berried mountain ash, the
heavy sunlight darted its sloping rays,
which, corrected as they were by the
mistiness of the place to still more
hazy faintness. threw an air OF slight and
softening indistinctness over the rugged
outlines of the scene. Near the base of
this cliff, in dark angle on which the
Lip hit had still more limited influence
than on the more exposed features Of the
picture, stood matched chapel, plain
oblong pile with small iron cross fast
ened at the top of the gable, into which
the door, an unpanneled plane of timber,
marked with the same sacred symbol in
red paint, was made to open. A narrow
road, winding down the hill, formed the
approach to this humble temple, and a
struggling path presenting short cut
in this road, from the spot where the
Conner stood, ran almost under their
horses feet. This was pointed out by
Maher, who dismounted and flung the
stirrups over the high pummelled saddle
of his horse, as he observed it. Su1l
Dhuv followed his example and threw
the reins IF his steed to his companion.
ssRemain here until I return, said he,
..and if any danger should approach do
not forget, for your life, to give me the
token. Where are the things?''
Maher handed him wrenehing iron,
bundle of picks, file and a small ham
mer.
'.It's droll thing if they were left
there, the Coiner continued. t'Wouldn't
they be safer in his own chest?'
ISIS 1t Father O'Regan's? No, indeed
II heard Watty, the clerk, say meself
that he was afeerd of 'em there, in re-;
gard o. the billions that he denounced
from the althar o. count O. their. night
walken., There's no harm in thryen, at
any rate; and. besides the priest puts
great trust in the chapel above all other
places-for as he said himself, though
there's power O. villYans goen, there's
feow o. them that are wanten both in the
fear and love O. God together as
CHA! ha! he did not know you Or me.
Maher," said Suil Dhuv, striving by a
painful exertion to laugh away the dark
remorse that made the perspiration
stand out and glisten upon his brow.
ssWalk the horses softly here, and I'll
be with you in ten minutes" And,
bounding oyer the stile, he hurried
along the path towards the road. 81 ~
"That's the quarest laugh I uver
heerd him laugh YETI said Nun Maher
in soliloquy, as he gazed after the ruff
ffian; 81 wonder now could it be anythen
that would be comen over him, afther
all? tIsn'tit greatly he was thinker all
along the road?'' -
/ Something, most assuredly, was COM
ing over the young man in question,
some Ito himself) unaccountable state of
feeling, distress, an alarm, an uneasi-
ness. which he could trace tono possible
external influence, and which went on
deepening and fastening upon his spirit
in proportion to the violence Of the exer-
tions which he made to shake it off. He
thought of his past crimes with pam and
deep remorse; but it was not of that
healthy kind which induces a longing